ERIC EJ1125303: Observations

2016·0.16 MB·English

by  ERIC

O
BSERVATIONS
by A. M. Joosten
Joosten begins his article by telling us that love and knowledge together
are the foundation for our work with children. This combination is at
the heart of our observation. With this as the foundation, he goes on to
offer practical advice to aid our practice of observation. He offers a “List
of Objects of Observation” to help guide our eye and tips for recording
observations. He includes a “Guide for Psychological Observation” from
The Advanced Montessori Method, Volume 1 and ends with the mes-
sage of observation as a key to the improvement of humanity through our
work with the child.
I
The real help which the directress can give does not consist
in blind obedience to the impulse of feeling. In her love for
the child, she has to introduce discipline. Discrimination
has to guide this love in its manifestations. Love bestows
greater satisfaction on the giver than on the receiver. True
love serves those in need of it without drawing attention
to itself and, when it reveals itself, it is not in the guise
of a benefactor, but as one who performs a natural and
spontaneous act. (The Absorbent Mind)
When we learn to appreciate and value Dr. Maria Montessori’s
life-work as a work of art, but also when we learn to see it as a living
organism, we have to discover the energy which animates this work
of art, this organism. It goes without saying then that we shall first
look towards the child who is its ever fresh and living centre around
which it came into being developed and continues to develop; this
Albert Max Joosten (1914–1980) was one of Maria Montessori’s earliest
students and played a major role in popularizing the Montessori method
of education. At different points in his career, Joosten directed the Indian
Montessori Training Courses, the Good Shepherd Maria Montessori
Training Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the Montessori Training
Center of Minnesota. He was an AMI examiner and a member of the AMI
Sponsoring Committee and the AMI International Pedagogical Committee.
Reprinted from Around the Child 3 (1958): 23-31. Reprinted by permis-
sion from Katinka van Hall.
Joosten • Observations 199
is right. More right is it, and more natural too that we then think
of Dr. Montessori’s own personality glowing through it even after
she left us. She indeed created this work of art, no doubt guided
and inspired by the child, but the child itself could not build it. It
could communicate its vital energy and its truth to this was made
possible by the adult who gave it this opportunity and recognized
its manifestations. On the adults who handle it will depend whether
this work of art and this organism preserve its character and its life,
whether in their hands also it will live and be a creative act. A merely
technical application of more or less exact instructions lowers it to
less than well-exercised craft. It then becomes a kind of mechani-
cal routine and loses its inner life (and, therefore, also its power of
development). Then, also, it kills life in those who thus apply it.
How can we preserve this life and transmit it? How can we de-
velop it within ourselves and thus also in our work? How can we
help it to blossom ever more richly? Can love for the child do so?
Yes, and no. It can if we realize that this love must have a positive
starting point and must assume a concrete form; not if it remains
vague sentiment.
Love requires knowledge and knowledge love. Already St. Au-
gustine wrote that we can know something only according to the
measure of our love. We may say also that we can love something
only in as much as we know something of it, although love can go
far beyond that knowledge. Knowledge, however, must be there as
a starting point. Love will then find its form in the “help” offered to
the object of this love and this effective, form-assuming love, this act
of love grows into charity. In its most concrete and real manifesta-
tion we find this love when it is directed towards God and towards
our fellow men. Both are directed towards a “person” with whom
we have something in common. God does not need us, but in our
freedom he gives us the invaluable privilege to do something for
Him all the same, by building our life according to His Will and
His Plan drawing on the strength and power which He gives us
and which we implore from Him. Our fellow men need us as social
beings. Our fellow men in course of development need us in a very
special manner, because their environment of development depend
on our creative power and its developmental character is determined
by us. Both forms of charity belong together and are essentially
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one, although hierarchically they occupy different levels, the lower
dependent on the higher. We can, indeed, help out fellow men only
in the real sense of the word in as much as we follow God’s Will
and Plan for them and serve God in them.
Here, we are back at the close connection between love (as an
animating, life-giving and life-preserving energy) and knowledge.
In order to be able to help truly, we have to know, to recognize.
This knowledge so very indispensable can be drawn from dif-
ferent, again hierarchically different, sources. A direct source which
therefore, surpasses all others is Revelation. A derivative source our
discursively working intelligence which gathers and constructs sci-
ence. The intelligence, however, must “observe” the manifestations
of truth in order to make true the knowledge it gathers and this
particularly when directed towards life and vital phenomena.
Observation, loving, exact, modest, (i.e., humble), continuous and
especially objective (this does not contradict its loving character, but
precisely makes it true) is the cornerstone of Dr. Montessori’s work of
art. With this finely shaped and delicately handled brush she painted
and retouched for us the very real, majestic and inspiring picture of the
“new” child. Observation is the source of the vital and developmental
power of her work and it animates the love which flows through it.
This is a must do for us also if our work is to preserve its vital and
artistic character, if we are to avoid danger of slow, often unconscious
degeneration and mechanical imitation. By observation in the above
mentioned manner we must render possible for ourselves that we
“carry-out” what she has given and shown us.
Observation itself is an art and has to be exercised. It is not easy.
We must free ourselves from so much prejudice especially with re-
gard to the child (Dr. Maria Montessori, “The Formation of Man”).
Observation does not judge, much less “pre-judge.” Judgment
follows, repeated, pure observations and prudent ever renewed,
testing interpretation of our observations. We must also learn to
direct our observations so that merely sensorial looking, which is
often even more or less sleepy or sleep-arousing “staring,” become
mentally alert, intelligent observing. We must also learn (and how
difficult this is) to spread the field of our observations over ever
Joosten • Observations 201
more phenomena and individuals. We have to reach a level where
our observation does not exclude our direct activity with and for
the children, but accompanies it constantly, guiding it continuously,
like the beating of the heart.
All this requires exercise, time, much time, patience and perse-
verance, but also direction. The purpose of this articles is to propose
some possibilities for exercise in the hope that they may help to
render more easy and efficient our ultimate efforts at observation
of the individual children and the group as a whole. They should
help us follow the “Guide to Psychological Observation” indicated
at the end of Chapter III of The Advanced Montessori Method, Volume
1 and to draw up the observation curve described on the pages
preceding it. Above all, they should prepare us to animate our
work for the children by means of animate observation, to make
of our work a real act of love which help their life and enrich and
raise our own. “Vast and splendid is our sphere of observation; it
is the inner life of man. This we are not only about to observe, but
to serve.” (The Advanced Montessori Method, Volume 1 “The Prepara-
tion of the Teacher”)
II
It is obvious that the possession of senses and of knowledge
is not sufficient to enable a person to observe. It is a habit
which must be developed by practice…Such preparation
should generate in our consciousness a conception of life
capable of transforming us, of calling forth a special activity
and an attitude which will make us efficient for our task.
(The Advanced Montessori Method, Volume 1)
A certain acquaintance and familiarity with the Montessori
method, its principles and its recognition of the child, should naturally
be present before the real exercises in observation can commence.
It would be good also to pay a few visits, preferably to different
Houses of Children in order to form a global impression, which will,
in its turn, arouse interest in details and inspire the will to carry out
serious exercises ( “As in the little child internal coordination is the
point of crystallization round which the entire psychical form will
coalesce, so in the teacher interest in the phenomenon observed will
be the centre round which her complete new personality will form
spontaneously.” Thereafter real exercise should begin.
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During a certain period of
time one should limit oneself Observation, loving, exact, modest,
to only one object. A list could (i.e., humble), continuous and
be made of possible objects especially objective (this does
of observation which offers not contradict its loving character,
opportunity for choice and
but precisely makes it true) is the
change and will thus help
cornerstone of Dr. Montessori’s
to keep interest alive. Often,
work of art. With this finely shaped
especially among beginners,
and delicately handled brush
a certain boredom appears
she painted and retouched for
quite soon. It is caused by
us the very real, majestic and
the impression that after a
inspiring picture of the “new” child.
while nothing “new” is seen.
Observation is the source of the
Deeper penetration and con-
vital and developmental power of
sequently, more discoveries
her work and it animates the love
require inner maturation and
which flows through it.
integration and this calls for
time. Precisely during this
period of inner development
there should be ample opportunity for change in the objects of ob-
servation. These different objects should be such as to permit later
co-ordination and to stimulate the formation of understanding of
their inter-dependence.
Such a list may now follow. It is far from complete and intends
only to give as example and indication. If we compare it with Dr.
Montessori’s “Guide for Psychological Observation,” we shall see
how it leads on to that.
III
LIST OF OBJECTS OF OBSERVATION
1. One child only (succession of activities; of concentra-
tion in work; of its movements (disorderly, orderly,
attentive and their succession; repetitions of the
activity, etc.).
2. One material only (an arbitrarily chosen part of the
apparatus as it passes from child to child or remains
out of use; repetitions around it).
Joosten • Observations 203
3. Intervention or non-intervention of the directress
comparing it with our own inclinations to intervene
or not.
4. Individual, group or collective activities (spontaneous
or suggested from without).
5. Care of the environment (out of an inner urge or after
discovery of an outer need; the inanimate of animate
environment, plants, animals).
6. Succession of order and disorder (later on it can be
tried to find the cause of this succession, in the child
itself, or in the environment; or also the reactions of
a child or of the group to disturbance of order can
be observed; how order is restored by the children
themselves or by intervention of the directress; the
nature of phenomena of disorder).
7. Social behavior examples of co-operation, how it
started, around which activity; helpfulness, when,
by whom, to whom; how it started (spontaneously
or by request) and how it finished; “leadership”
and following among the children; interest for and
admiration of the work of others, spontaneously or
by request).
8. Choice of Activities (how a child chooses; how it ex-
presses its need of presentation of a change of work,
of an activity on a higher level).
9. Errors (attitude towards an error committed, in differ-
ent fields: movement, sensorial, intellectual, moral,
and social, how errors are corrected; when interest
for the control of error is awakened).
10. Fatigue (expressions of physical or mental fatigue;
how they are expressed; how they are overcome).
11. Obedience (when obedience becomes manifest; the “three
degrees of obedience” (accidental, directed, constant
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and with joy); how it is expressed; in connection with
that towards whom (adult, companions, strangers).
12. Concentration (by whom; around which activity; how
soon; how long; in spite of what disturbance in the
environment; how protected by the child, by the
environment, by the directress; how regained after
interruption; how constant in a particular child).
13. Normalisation (how and when deviations disappear;
characteristic phenomena of different deviations;
characteristics of achieved normalisation).
14. Abstraction (how abstraction is reached; when the
child himself “discovers” to have reached it, i.e.,
to be working with using the apparatus; how this
discovery is expressed; how and when a particular
material is permanently discarded).
15. Intelligence (how expressed; with regard to what;
spontaneous or stimulated from without).
16. Moral sensitivity (how; with regard to what; emotional
or objective).
17. Expressions of will (positive; negative; perseverance).
18. Imagination (with regard to what; in which form; with what
technical perfection and fugue; as an expression of more
penetrating and further reaching understanding).
19. Emotions (joy; sorrow; depression; exuberance; af-
fection; serene calm; anger; slow and persistent or
flaring up; irritation; plaintiveness; patience; impa-
tience etc. in whom; when; in connection with what
of with whom; how long; how often).
20. Particular attitudes (in work; in sensitivity; in social
behavior; in moral behavior; in attachment, etc.)
Nice, interesting, and surprising anecdotes should
also be recorded carefully.
Joosten • Observations 205
IV
Observations regarding these points and their particular details
should, of course, also be prepared and this applies especially to some
of them. They should be continued too for some time in order to be
able to form a clear picture of their process (not always progress).
Continued observation regarding a chosen object can be carried
out for several successive days or also (especially a bit later) on
certain days of the week in order to survey a longer period. It may
be helpful to prepare beforehand a kind of framework within which
their records can be made. If, for instance it is observed whether a
particular material is used, a single symbol (+ or -) is sufficient and
it can be placed in compartments indicating a chosen time-unit, say
15 minutes. The page is then divided in these compartments, on top
the time-units are indicated and on the left hand side, vertically,
the material, or later materials, followed as they pass from child
to child or remain in their place. The same can be done when one
follows the activities of one (and later more children). Naturally,
symbols cannot be used in that case. If, on the other hand one should
choose to observe the predominance of certain kinds of activities
(exercises of practical life, sensorial, intellectual, etc.) in one child
or in the group as a whole, symbolic indications may again be uti-
Cornerstone Schools, St. Paul, Minnesota
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lized. The observations concerning some of the objects mentioned
above can, indeed, be made with regard to a single child as well
to a group of children or even the whole community. For instance
Nos. 2, 6, 10,11,12,19, provided one concentrates on the occurrence
or not of a single phenomenon or expression. This in turn can give
an indirect preparation for more widely spread attention and also
for detailed phenomena or details and shades within a particular
phenomenon later on. While determining which group will be ob-
served, children of one age can be chosen, or children of the age
who were admitted at more or less the same time, or children who
have reached approximately the same work-level or who show the
same difficulties. The directress responsible for the group can give
help and make useful suggestions.
Later on two or more objects of observation can be combined.
These can be chosen because of their reciprocal independence or also
on the basis of a possible relationship. Or again, precisely in order
to emphasize a probable contrast. For instance, two children (from
the same family or not) of different ages, but having been admitted
at the same age; of the same age; of the same age and admitted at
the same time; and only child and one from a large family; a child
already orderly and one still disorderly; a healthy and a sickly
child; they can then be observed with regard to any of the above
mentioned points. Instead of choosing two children, two points
can also be observed simultaneously, for instance order and choice
of activity, obedience and work-level, normalisation and choice of
activity or level of obedience, intelligence and will, intelligence and
imagination, to mention only a few.
A completely different exercise which is done outside the real
time of observation consists in the interpretation of observations
made with the help of the records taken. It is interesting to do this
also with regard to observations made and recorded by someone
else. To have one and the same observation and series of observa-
tions on a single point made by different people compared and
interpreted and then to compare and discuss these interpretations
is also useful. Those people in turn, could differ in their knowledge
and experience of the method. It is very helpful also to have observa-
tions compared and put in relation with the phenomena described
by Dr. Montessori in her books, with indications given by her, both
Joosten • Observations 207
of a practical and of a theoreti-
cal nature. Perhaps only after a Often, especially among begin-
basis has been laid through these ners, a certain boredom ap-
preparatory exercises should it be pears quite soon. It is caused by
tried to summarize systematically the impression that after a while
the records made during a term,
nothing “new” is seen. Deeper
later on such terminal summaries
penetration and consequently,
at the end of the year and the
more discoveries require inner
annual summaries finally when
maturation and integration and
an individual child leaves the
this calls for time. Precisely
House of Children.
during this period of inner devel-
opment there should be ample
Ultimately sufficient progress
opportunity for change in the
should have been made to make
objects of observation.
it possible to observe the whole
community and each individual
child. Then full justice can be done to the “Guide for Psychological
Observation” already mentioned more than once.
V
GUIDE FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATION
(THE ADVANCED MONTESSORI METHOD, VOLUME 1 CHAPTER III)
Work
1. Note when a child begins to work, with constancy,
at a particular task, what the task is and how long
he continues working at it (the period of time from
start to finish, repetition of the same activity).
2. Individual peculiarities in application to particular
activities.
3. To what activities the child applies himself during
the same day and with how much perseverance.
4. If the child has periods of spontaneous industry and
for how many days these periods continue.
5. How he manifest his need to progress.
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